Page 100 of Glasgow Rogue

Annie grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her, then opened the door to peer into the hall. It was empty. She padded out on bare feet and went up the stairs. She hesitated a moment and then knocked softly on Niall’s door.

He opened it, his gaze taking in what she was wearing and travelling back to her face. “Ye should nae be here.” He looked down at her bare feet and her night rail under the lightweight cotton wrapper. “And nae dressed like that.”

“I need to talk to ye,” Annie said and walked past him before he could close the door. “First, I need to thank ye for the job.”

Niall frowned as he latched the door. “If ye think ye need to thank me with your body, I do nae require it.”

For a moment Annie wondered if she’d made a mistake in coming up. Maybe Niall really didn’t want her. Maybe once hadbeen enough… Annie lifted her chin. Niall was not Broderick. Anyway, she was already here.

“Ye are welcome to my body, but ’tis nae the reason I am here.”

His eyes raked over her again. “Say what ye have to say, then, and be gone before ye are compromised by someone seeing ye. I will nae force ye into a marriage.”

Annie swallowed hard. “What if I changed my mind?”

Niall gave her a wary look. “On what?”

“On marriage.”

“What?”

The incredulous expression on Niall’s face almost made Annie falter, but she might as well blurt out what she was feeling. If Niall rejected her, so be it.

“I realize…I mean, I think…” Blast it. The words were hard to say. “Do ye care for me?”

He looked at her as though she’d taken complete leave of her senses. Maybe she had. “I mean…well, ye would nae have done so many things to protect me if ye did nae care. I ken ye Highlanders have a code ye follow and ye feel ye have a duty and responsibility—”

“I care for ye.”

Annie stopped. “Yetrulydo?”

Niall looked heavenward as if praying for patience. “Do ye think I would have spent so much time—nae to mention trouble—following ye around like a moonstruck calf if I did nae care?”

His choice of words made Annie smile. “I would hardly say ye acted like a moonstruck calf.”

“Ye ken what I mean,” Niall answered. “’Tis true I started out only thinking to protect ye—mainly from yourself—but my feelings changed. Ye managed to vex me and make me want to stay at your side at the same time. Ye are stubborn and opinionated and—”

“Are those your idea of compliments?” Annie asked.

“Aye. At least, in a way. Ye never have liked flattery,” Niall said, “so I might as well speak truth. Ye are willful and obstinate and tenacious, to boot. I never expected to fall in love with ye.”

Annie’s heart stilled. “Ye…loveme?”

Niall threw up his hands. “Ye doona think I would have asked ye to marry me if I did nae?”

“But ye did naesayit.”

Niall looked bewildered. “Did I have tosayit?”

“Aye, ye daft man. ’Tis a word a woman wants to hear. Even one who does nae care for flowery compliments.”

“I thought Ishowedit.”

Annie quieted and then nodded. “Ye did. I was just too stupid nae to see it.”

“Stupid is nae a word I would ever use to describe ye,” Niall replied. “Headstrong, mulish—”

“Enough,” Annie said. “My answer is yes.”

“Yes?”

“Aye. I love ye and I will marry ye.” Annie tilted her head. “If the offer still stands.”

Niall smiled. “It stands. I love ye, Annie Ferguson.”

She smiled too. “Thenshowme.”

And he did, drawing her body close and covering her mouth with his.